The push for College and Career Readiness is one of the most urgent—and misunderstood—challenges facing today’s K–12 school systems. While the phrase is widely used in education leadership spaces, many districts still lack systemic clarity around what readiness truly means in practice. When this clarity is missing, the unintended consequences disproportionately impact historically marginalized and vulnerable students.

True college and career readiness is not a checklist, a single pathway, or a compliance exercise. It is a system-wide commitment to ensuring students graduate prepared for every postsecondary option—college, career, military, or beyond. Achieving this level of readiness requires intentional system design, aligned expectations, and a willingness to examine long-standing inequities embedded in policy and practice.

This session brings together research, system design, and lived leadership experience to explore what it truly takes to build equitable pathways for student achievement.

Join Dr. Robin Avelar La Salle and Dr. Sarah Mott Gonzalez, alongside partner superintendents Antonio Garcia and Ilsa Garza-Gonzales, for a candid discussion on what it means to lead this work at the district level. Speakers will share real-world insights into redesigning systems, aligning leadership teams, and communicating a compelling vision for equity-driven student achievement.

What Attendees Will Gain

Participants will leave with:

• Clear, actionable definitions of College and Career Readiness

• Research-based insights grounded in equity-focused system design

• Leadership wisdom from superintendents actively doing the work

• Current labor market forecasting insights to inform strategic planning

• Concrete examples of how effective leaders mobilize followership around a shared vision

This session is designed for education leaders who are ready to be stretched—those committed to confronting inequities, questioning assumptions, and building systems that expand opportunity for every student.

If you are seeking clarity, inspiration, and practical tools to bring back to your leadership team, we invite you to join us for this powerful conversation on the future of college and career readiness in K–12 education.